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Why Chelsea still need a world-class striker in addition to Joao Felix’s loan arrival amid Mudryk transfer

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(Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)

It’s been a couple of weeks since the January transfer window opened and Chelsea have already made four additions to their team ahead of the second half of the season.

The Blues have signed David Datro Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos and, most recently, Joao Felix, who received his marching orders on his debut.

Graham Potter’s men have had a disappointing start to the campaign and currently sit 10th in the Premier League, 10 points off Newcastle United in fourth spot. Chelsea are a long way off their season objectives and need a quick turnaround if they want to try to secure Champions League football next season.

The Blues have made the necessary signings thus far, but are still a huge marquee striker away from getting their campaign back on track. In their most recent defeat in the London derby against Fulham, which they lost 2-1, Potter’s men took 20 shots at Bernd Leno’s goal, with 10 of them on target.

Still, it was when they had to feed off scraps when Kalidou Koulibaly found the back of the net for Chelsea. Joao Felix brought new life into the attack and took more shots in the first half (5), than any other Chelsea player in a first half this term.

READ MORE: When will Joao Felix return for Chelsea after Fulham red card and how long is he suspended for?

Chance creation is not the issue at Chelsea with the Blues showing that they have the capabilities to cause damage to any opponent on their day, it’s the conversion of chances that is letting Potter’s men down in the final third.

Chelsea’s top scorers this season are Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling, who both have just four goals to their name, with the latter now sidelined on the doctor’s table along with a whole host of other Blues attackers.

With Felix also suspended for the next three matches, Mason Mount is the next main source of goals behind Havertz, who has three in the league. In the Fulham loss, a portion of Chelsea fans in the crowd were chanting “we want our Chelsea back”, and a huge part of getting back to those days will be recruiting a new striker.

The Chelsea of old had the likes of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Didier Drogba and Diego Costa, who were all lethal strikers and didn’t need multiple opportunities to find the back of the net.

The Blues may have got it wrong in the market with the likes of Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain and Romelu Lukaku, to some extent, perhaps Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as well, but that shouldn’t hold the club back in righting their wrongs from yesteryear.

The club’s owners have given Potter plenty of backing to strengthen his backline, but now it seems to be the right moment to strike while the iron is hot and add more attacking reinforcements after the addition of Felix to the fold.

Chelsea are on the verge of signing Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk after a £88 million deal was agreed at the weekend. Whether or not he will solve some of the problems, only time will tell, and the outlay on the 22-year-old is likely to mean a centre-forward will have to wait until the summer when the squad is revamped.

The owners are planning a squad overhaul and the attacking department is full of uncertain futures, with Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all linked with potential moves away.

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